Chapter Text
Whatever you do at the crossroads. Keep going forward.
Those had been some of the last words Derek Hutchins ever anticipated to write. Not the most poetic, he was hardly the second coming of Shakespear after all. But it worked for what he needed. Avery hadn’t needed dramatic prose, anything complicated probably would have gone over the man’s head. This was simple, familiar. It was enough. He could fade knowing that Avery would eventually find it. If not by himself, then through a video like the last time.
That was it, his final words on paper. Now he could just… die, the King would starve in his broken mind far from his goals.
Avery was safe, the world was safe. It was close enough to a happy ending. He could accept it.
Derek Hutchins expected to die on the 31st of December, 2025…
Exactly two months later, he woke up.
Now this wasn’t exactly a pleasant awakening. He was in a hospital in California, far from his own home. That, as well as the unshakable feeling that he had to hide helped guide the man during his first few hazy days. According to the nurses, he was a John Doe. Found unresponsive at the edge of town, no one had identified him, and his fingerprints offered no hits.That was good, it was safe. So he let the identity of Derek Hutchins die. Another could be born when he was ready.
During the day, it was simple. He just had to be honest about how weak he felt, while pretending not to remember the truth of who he was. It shouldn’t have been possible, Derek knew better than to assume that he could trick brain scans. Passing as an amnesiac shouldn’t have been possible, not with modern technology. Yet, he got lucky and no one called him out for his trick.
No, that wasn’t it. Derek knew better than to assume he was lucky. It hid during the day, but that bastard was still there. He had his own needs, but it had its own wishes too. The King was weaker now, he knew as much. It wouldn’t survive if people knew it lingered in his head.
The day was easy thanks to the clear goals that he’d placed for himself. He could almost ignore the pain during the day, static of a pressure inside the skull that shouldn’t have been there. The pressure in his skull of having too much forced in. Like a bag on the brink of bursting. But at night, there were fewer distractions for Derek. It was there that the feeling of being watched became impossible to ignore. Not from any outside force, but the eyes…
Yellow used to be a pleasant colour for Derek, something bright that had been proven to coax serotonin out of even the most damaged brains. Though that had been twisted, a fair response in his own opinion. In the darkest points of the night, he could guarantee the creeping dread along his spine at the sight of those unblinking yellow eyes focused on him. Watching, waiting for any slips in his control. It was alive because he was, and that meant his days had to be spent keeping it in check. That had been his choice, back in the church. If he let go, there was no telling what would happen to the world. To his world.
So, there was nothing else to do but endure the pain. How it felt like the King itself was clawing at the inside of his skull whenever Derek felt those eyes on him, ones that lingered even when his own eyes were shut. It wasn’t like hiding from an eldritch entity would be simple, not when it was living inside his head.
“You lied to me!”
Then, there were the tricks. Daggers to his very soul, words designed to weaken him. Always the same person, always Avery. Because who else would Derek care for enough? It wasn’t like he had any family. Avery was everything, he had been for too long. So, it made sense that the King made the other's voice echo in his mind whenever it was annoyed at Derek. Which was most nights, if he was honest. The thing was kind of an asshole who hated the idea of Derek getting proper sleep.
But he could handle it. The knowledge that the real Avery was alive and well was more than enough to keep him going. Derek could handle it trying to convince him that Avery hated him as long as the real thing was safe.
That worked for all of three weeks before Derek’s own human nature damned him. Curiosity claimed him, the same kind that sent him into that cave so long ago. Now, it was directed at one specific topic. What was Avery doing? Technically, Derek had access to that knowledge. But risking his own sanity even more than he already had in order to get that information was hardly ideal, as far as the man knew, the King was just waiting for him to try before it took him over.
The monster in his head wasn’t an option, and that meant he had to do things the old fashioned way. Avery had social media, Derek remembered finding them in the days when he still knew more than he should. There was the bedwars clip there too, something that had been far more impressive than it should have been. But that didn’t matter, he was getting distracted.
Avery’s youtube channel had been his first port of call. It made sense, that was where Avery posted content most regularly. Where he posted about the book. For all his lies about confidence and solid plans, Derek was woefully underprepared for how his heart ached at the apology. How far Avery went for him. Every bit he saw was further proof of how softhearted the other was, how he blamed himself when it took the most underhanded tricks for Derek to protect him. God, he was too much.
Derek had to find him. To see that smile and know the other understood that none of it was his fault. Derek was the one to blame here, he had been the one too arrogant to see his own mistakes. That was exactly why he needed to find his way back, to make sure Avery’s brilliant light wasn’t dimmed by something so out of his control.
After spending a month recovering in the hospital, Derek self-discharged against medical advice. No plan in mind beyond finding his driving force.